Metamorphosis Online Complete Series Boxed Set; A Gamelit Fantasy RGP Novel: You Need A Bigger Sword, The New Queen Rises, Reign With Axe & Shield

by Natalie Grey

  The frown got deeper as he continued.

  "Is something wrong?" Jay asked.

  "Kind of." Dan sat back. "They're in a non-active zone. Well, a part of the Sea of Sand they shouldn't be able to get to, and they're all there.”

  "What part?" Dhruv stood up and went to look, along with Sam and Jay. They peered over Dan's shoulder, and all of them frowned when they saw the zone name.

  Saladin's Keep

  "You know that zone is active, right?" Jay asked quizzically.

  "This isn't the battleground," Dan said. He pointed. "There'd be a battleground notation in front of it if it were—and there would be no major zone. This is the actual place. It's in the Sea of Sand, and we were theoretically going to open it up at some point. That's how you all had that Christmas party PvP there," he added to Jay.

  "Oh," Jay said. "So, they're not supposed to be able to get there?”

  "No," Dhruv said flatly. "They're not. The only way is by flying transport, which you'd have to be able to utilize. Someone helped them.”

  "I think we have our answer," Sam said a moment later. He'd been scanning the list of names and typed something into his phone. "They lost a healer, right? Well, now they have a recruit called TrialHealer whose account is five days old, and who is nonetheless top-level and has a full set of Elite armor.”

  He held up his phone, which displayed the global rankings lookup, and there was a long pause while they all stared.

  "I didn't think he'd ever in a million years go for a Piskie character," Dhruv remarked finally.

  "How. The hell. Did he get into the game?" Dan asked far too pleasantly.

  "Account lookup," Sam suggested. They all leaned over the screen again as Dan searched until he gave them all a look. Then they stood up while he kept typing.

  "Registered to..." Dan frowned, "an LLC, which means we had to have given them a dispensation, and—“

  "Front Range," Sam said. "That's Brightstar. They funnel their charity and sponsorships and so on through there.”

  Dan went very still. "So they're now employing Harry?" he said. This time the pleasantness was so strong that Jay found himself breaking out in a cold sweat.

  "Apparently," he said. He chewed his lip. "If they made him his own account, they must be, right?”

  "Possibly," Sam said. He sounded cautious.

  Dan rounded on him. "Possibly? He's using their account. What other explanation—"

  "We don't know," Sam said patiently. "We should find out before doing anything rash, that's all I'm saying. For one thing, we have an active contract with them, so knowing exactly how they breached it would be useful.”

  "How who breached what contract?" asked a new voice.

  Jay looked up, and his jaw dropped. “Gracie?"

  There she was, standing with her hands in the pockets of some rolled-up jeans, an oversized green sweatshirt draped over her slim frame, and her long light-brown hair pulled into a ponytail.

  "We flew her in," Dhruv said. Jay now remembered him looking at his phone and his watch. "We figured it was past time to join forces officially."

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  "Gracie." Jay looked like he'd been hit by a truck.

  It was him, but he was real. For the first time, Gracie could reach out and touch him if she wanted, and her fingers wouldn't go right through him. She was shaking, she realized—adrenaline pounding through her veins. She'd been on the lookout as the receptionist led her through the halls, but it had still been a shock to come around the corner and see Jay.

  "Hi," she managed.

  One of the other three, a man who looked to be about forty with thinning hair, cleared his throat. "We'll give you two a moment.”

  "We have things to do," said a man Gracie assumed was Dhruv.

  The first man interrupted him. "A moment," he reiterated. He ushered the other two men out firmly, giving Gracie a nod as he went by. Then the door shut and they were alone in the room.

  Neither she nor Jay moved for a good few seconds, and when they did, it was to edge closer to each other very slowly. Gracie reached out, and Jay did the same. They were both, she realized, having trouble believing the other person was actually there. Then, at the same time, they curled their hands into fists and did a fist bump.

  That broke the weird unreality of the moment, and they both dissolved into laughter. Gracie leaned on the table with one hand, hand over her stomach. The problem was, she didn't seem to be able to stop laughing. Her head was a whirl of thoughts, from everything she'd heard them discussing as she came in to what Jay thought of her now that he could really see her. When she looked up, he was watching her.

  "I, uh..." She didn't know what to say. Then, because she'd never been good at either subtlety or flirting, and she was going to throw up if she let herself wonder, she opened her mouth and blurted, "I really want to kiss you. I—that is, if you don't mind now that you've seen me. Maybe it’s—“

  “A bad idea” got cut off by the kiss. Jay took two steps and cupped her face in his hands. She was almost as tall as he was, but she was distracted enough not to worry about whether he minded. With some hesitation, she wound her arms around his neck and kissed him back. It wasn't that she hadn't done this before, but she wasn't exactly Casanova.

  What were you supposed to do with your tongue while you were kissing?

  Eventually, she gave up trying to think about it. For one thing, Jay didn't seem to be complaining. For another, kissing was too absorbing for her to devote much thought to anything else.

  When they finally broke apart, she couldn't remember how long it had been since she had taken a breath. She stared at him. “Um."

  Jay kissed her again, then groaned in frustration.

  "What?" Was she doing something wrong? But when she followed his eyes, she realized the other three were outside the door staring in.

  "They did say a moment," Jay muttered, resigned. He looked down at her. "Why did they bring you here?”

  "They said they needed to figure out what Harry was up to, and since Harry had been bending the rules, maybe it was time for them to do it too." Gracie stepped back and twisted her hands together, frowning. "I know you don't always approve of that—"

  "I didn't approve when it was them manipulating rankings," Jay said. "I do approve when it's keeping a crazy asshole from nuking the game." He sighed and went to open the door, gesturing with overblown courtesy for the others to come in.

  "All right." The man who'd spoken up earlier seemed determined not to dwell on what they'd interrupted. "I'm Sam, Jay's boss. This is Dan, and this is Dhruv.”

  “Hi.” Gracie brushed her fingers over her lips, blushing, and then settled down in a chair. She cleared her throat. “Um, may I have some coffee? I didn’t eat on the plane.”

  “That’s why we put all this out,” Sam told her gently. “Have you slept enough to talk now? We can get you set up in one of the break rooms for a nap if you want, or take you back to your hotel—”

  “No, I’m fine.” Gracie managed a smile. “Honestly. Just tired.” And distracted by kissing. She got herself a cup of coffee and a donut.

  “So, I don’t know how you did it,” Jay said, “but you were absolutely right. It’s going to be Saladin’s Keep.”

  Gracie’s head jerked up, and she stared at them. “Really?”

  “We don’t know that for certain,” Dan pre-empted. “But it does seem like it. It also appears that he’s joined forces with the Demon Syndicate. He’s playing a healer.”

  “Yesuan,” Gracie murmured.

  “Ah,” Dhruv said. “Of course.”

  “He sees himself as a healer,” Gracie explained, rolling her eyes. “Unifying everyone against him, something-something.” She waved the donut.

  Jay laughed slightly, and she looked at him. She could still feel his lips on hers, and—

  Focus, Gracie.

  Gracie cleared her throat. Right. She could do this. “So, how do you know it’s Saladin’s Keep?” she asked
.

  “That’s where Demon Syndicate is right now,” Jay explained. “Along with a decked-out top-level healer whose account has only existed for a few days.”

  “So they’re working with him,” Gracie muttered. “Charming. Risky, though. We should ask Caspian about that.”

  “Good point.” Jay nodded and pulled out his phone. “I’ll text him.”

  “Whoa, wait. Hey.” Dhruv made a cutting motion in the air with his hand. “Who is Caspian? We don’t want to be bringing in any other people on this.”

  “Caspian was Demon Syndicate’s plant in our guild,” Gracie said. “Which I’m given to understand you knew about.” She raised an eyebrow at him. “Now he’s in our guild.”

  “Really.” Dhruv looked at her like she was crazy. “And you…don’t think this is another attempt to spy on you?”

  Gracie opened her mouth, then closed it. “No,” she said. “I don’t. I doubt I could prove it to your satisfaction, but I really don’t.”

  Dhruv raised an eyebrow but shrugged to show that he’d accept that for now.

  “We should be watching what they’re doing,” Gracie said. “If Harry’s there, what he’s doing is our best clue.”

  “I’ve been working on getting a feed pulled up,” Dan said. “Well, I asked Paul and Tim to pull one up. They just sent me a link.” He plugged his laptop into a projector and clicked a few keys. “Do we want a birds-eye of the whole map or one of the players specifically?”

  “Harry,” Jay said at once. Gracie nodded in agreement.

  They were dropped into a players’-eye view from Harry’s camera. He was pacing around the greenery of the oasis, staring down at the ground.

  “Interesting tactics,” Gracie said, after a moment. “Think that’s D or O?”

  “That’s about Harry’s level of skill at offense,” Dhruv muttered. His mouth twitched in a smile. “Seriously, though, what is he looking for?”

  “I’ll be back. I’m going to get my laptop.” Jay headed out of the room, letting his fingertips brush Gracie’s shoulder as he went past. He smiled at her when she looked at him.

  She curled up to sit cross-legged in the office chair and wrapped her fingers around the coffee mug as she stared at the screen. Harry was being very methodical, whatever he was doing. He would pace, crouch, look through the undergrowth, look up, and then repeat. Nearby, Gracie could faintly hear the sounds of spells and shouts, and once or twice, Harry looked toward the sound, but he never spent much time observing.

  Jay was back less than a minute later, sliding into place beside Dan and checking several things on his screen before beginning to type furiously. Gracie glanced over curiously, but he was entirely engrossed in his work and didn’t look up.

  Eventually, Harry circled toward the back of the oasis, the most remote area, which was filled with larger blocks of stone and had plants everywhere. A tiny Piskie hand came up out of reflex to push the plants out of his way.

  “I’ll say this for him,” Dhruv said. “He’s finally learned how to ask other people for things.”

  “I don’t think using other people as tools really counts as personal progress,” Dan replied drily.

  “You are so difficult to please.”

  Gracie smiled despite herself. She hadn’t wanted to like these two, not after what they’d put her through. In person, though, she could see both their intelligence and their work ethic, and she found herself liking their humor. Dhruv was a straight talker, not afraid of a confrontation. Dan came at things sideways, but he had a low-key, observant way of looking at the world that Gracie liked.

  She’d be lying if she said that seeing Jay wasn’t one of the biggest reasons she’d come out here, but she’d also been interested in meeting the two Dragon Soul founders.

  “Did they move it?” Harry muttered.

  Everyone at the table stiffened, then burst out laughing. Harry was very conscious of his dignity, and hearing the Piskie voice filter was hilarious.

  Unaware that they were listening in, he continued to mutter. “No, they’d take it out. But where is it?”

  “Did we make any changes to this zone?” Dan asked quizzically. He rubbed his forehead and looked at Dhruv. “I didn’t think we had.”

  “I didn’t think we had either, but here we are.” Dhruv sighed. “Wait. Wait. No, we flipped it. The whole thing.”

  “Then whatever it was would still be in the same place,” Dan argued.

  “Not if he tied it to a specific set of coordinates,” Dhruv shot back.

  Gracie looked at the two of them. She had a fairly good idea of what this meant, but she was out of her depth, and she knew it. She caught Sam’s eyes and saw his empathetic smile.

  “I’m lost, too,” he mouthed at her and shrugged.

  She smiled back.

  Jay had looked up when they were speaking about flipped coordinates, and now he went back to searching with a renewed sense of purpose.

  “Ha,” he said, a moment later, causing both Gracie and Sam to start violently. He looked at them. “Sorry, but I did find something on the other side of the oasis, just in the water here.” He pointed at his screen.

  Gracie exchanged looks with Sam, and both of them got up to take a peek.

  What was on the screen looked like gibberish to her, but as Jay scrolled through slowly, Dan and Dhruv nodded. All three of the developers looked halfway between impressed and deeply annoyed.

  “Uh.” Gracie looked around. “All right, I’ll ask. What am I looking at?”

  “It’s a challenge mechanic,” Dan explained. He pointed to a few lines of code. “See, here—well, not important. It allows people to challenge one another in a way that the other person can’t back out of. Of course, it only allows people to challenge who know how the mechanism works, and there are quite a few passcodes, but that’s the gist. It looks like you can make it either a solo duel or a team fight.”

  “He’s going to challenge me,” Gracie said.

  “We’ll disable it,” Dan assured her.

  “Don’t.” Gracie crossed her arms.

  Everyone turned to look at her.

  “You didn’t bring me out here for that,” she told them. “You know as well as I do that it’s this fight or another one, and another, and another. And there’d be no point to challenging me unless…”

  “Unless?” Dan prompted.

  The look on Jay’s face told her that he, at least, knew what she meant.

  “Unless it was winner-takes-all,” he said quietly. “We’ve seen how Harry’s mind works. People who don’t agree with him need to be eliminated. If he wins, Gracie’s gone. If she wins…”

  Everyone looked at Gracie. She was staring down at the code with a little smile.

  “Fly the rest of them out,” she said. She looked at Dan and Dhruv. “The whole guild. I want them here while we’re fighting.”

  Dhruv and Dan didn’t even look at each other before nodding at her.

  “And since he can only summon me once I log on,” Gracie said, “I’m going to go get some rest before I do.”

  “I’ll stay here,” Dan said. “I want to see if he finds it.”

  “He will,” Dhruv predicted. “I’ll have Rosalie make the arrangements for the rest of them.” He paused, then said in an impressively flat tone, “Jay, would you like to take the rest of the day to show Gracie around?”

  “That sounds nice,” Jay agreed. “Gracie?”

  “Yeah.” Gracie flushed. “Yeah.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Kevin opened the door to the apartment to find a strange mix of smells: one part amazing breakfast, one part burned breakfast. He came around the doorway to the kitchen with one eyebrow raised, and his expression grew more quizzical when he saw Jamie surrounded by plates of pancakes.

  “Uh, good morning.”

  “Jesus Christ!” Jamie practically jumped out of his skin. He’d been flipping a pancake, which flopped onto the edge of the pan and tipped onto the flames. “Oh, god
dammit. Sorry. I was going to clean up and everything.” He rescued the pancake and turned off the burner. “Uh.” He cleared his throat. “You’re home early.”

  Kevin’s mouth was twitching madly. “Did you see Gracie’s text?”

  “No! No.” Jamie looked around and patted his pockets. “I think I left my phone in the bedroom. Why, what’s up?”

  “They’re flying all of us to Portland,” Kevin said. “Everyone who can go, anyway.”

  “Who’s ‘they?’”

  “Oh. Dragon Soul.” Kevin raised his eyebrows. “Gracie is already there, apparently. And, well, if you think you’ve made enough pancakes…”

  “I was trying to get them right for once!” Jamie waved his hands. His face was bright red. “Everyone should be able to make pancakes, right? It’s not hard.”

  Kevin stripped off his suit jacket with a grin. “Okay, well, for one thing, most of us use a spatula to flip the pancakes, so you’re doing it on hard mode. For another, we all have gaps. I, for instance, can’t whistle.”

  “Really?” Jamie stopped, intrigued. “Seriously?”

  “Seriously.” Kevin smiled. “All right, text her back that you can go, we’ll pack, and then we should have time for lunch before going to the airport.” He looked around the kitchen at the multiple teetering stacks of pancakes. “That is, if we can find anything to eat.”

  Jamie flushed even more.

  “Alan will meet us here,” Kevin said. “Do you think there’ll be enough pancakes for him too?”

  Jamie gave him a Look and disappeared into the guest bedroom while Kevin guffawed. Then he took a bite of one of the pancakes and his expression changed. He checked to see if Jamie was watching before edging over to the trash can and spitting the mouthful out.

  “Or maybe I’ll buy us lunch,” he called into the bedroom.

  Jamie appeared in the doorway, phone in hand. “Oh, God. Are they not good?”

  It took everything Kevin had to keep a straight face, and he was pretty sure he was going to crack a rib in the process. “Man, I love you, you’re great, and your cooking is generally a transcendent experience. But these are the worst pancakes I’ve ever had. They’re both too dry and not cooked. I don’t even know how you managed that.”